In the middle of her sleep, Gabrielle woke up to find her throat dry. She sat up and yawned while she stretches her arms. When she decided to stand up, she held onto the bed first to know much she could stand. Fortunately, she can stand well now.
She began to walk slowly and carefully.
Gabrielle reached the kitchen and opened the fridge to get some cold water. She looked at the darkness through the window and thought it was around 2 or 3 in the morning.
"You could have just called me, Elle." Ravn said from behind which made Gabrielle jump and almost choke on the water. She coughed as she turned around to see a worried Ravn. His arms were crossed to his chest as he leaned his arm on the doorway.
"I can already walk, Ravn. I also don't want to wake you up."
"What if you suddenly stumble down at the stairs? I won't care if my sleep is interrupted. I'm only next door, you can just call me and I'll give you anything."
"Ravn, you know me. I don't like inconveniencing people. And I'm fine. I didn't fall, see? Stop worrying."
Ravn sighed in defeat as he looked at Gabrielle giving him a reassuring smile. He approached her and gave her a tight hug. "How could I stop worrying about you when you're so hard-headed?"
She hugged him back but she lifted her chin to look at him. "I'm sorry."
"You're forgiven." Ravn grinned and softly kissed her lips. She hugged Ravn's waist as his hands held her face. When the kiss deepened, his right hand travelled down to her neck. His hand slowly wrapped around her neck.
Until it suffocated her.
Gabrielle's eyes widened. Her eyes met Ravn's now cold and dark eyes. His grip on her neck tightened as he lifted Gabrielle up, her feet slowly losing contact with the ground.
She couldn't breathe and she couldn't understand what's happening. "R-Ravn." She choked out, tears brimming in her eyes. She held on his wrist as she tries to pry his hand off but his grip was too strong.
Too strong for a mortal.
"Ravn, S-stop..."
Gabrielle didn't know if it's because of her suffocation that the world around her was getting dark but she could see how Ravn's eyes turned black and how small veins are creeping up on his now pale face and neck.
"What have you been doing, Gabrielle?" Even his voice changed. It was no longer the warm voice that comforted her.
"How could you let them take us? You are just full of words, you couldn't help us at all." His voiced echoed through the now dark kitchen and into Gabrielle's mind. It echoed inside her mind, sending chills to her spine.
Slowly, six figures started to appear behind Ravn. They all looked the same as Ravn with their eyes black and with the veins on their face and neck. But despite of how those figures looked, Gabrielle could recognize them.
Leedo, Seoho, Mingi, Hwanwoong, Keonhee, and Xion stood behind Ravn as they glared at Gabrielle with their soulless black eyes.
"You're too late, Gabrielle." Keonhee said, his tone feeling emotionless.
"Look what have you done to us." Hwanwoong followed.
"You broke your promise." Xion said.
"You're a failure." Seoho added with so much venom in his voice.
"You didn't even find me." Mingi was finally here, but he was full of hatred.
"Just come with us and give our King your head." Leedo stepped forward and lifted his hand to touch Gabrielle's face.
Gabrielle shook her head as she tried to get some air. Black spots started to appear in her vision. Her panic even rose when she saw Ravn pick up a knife from the counter and placed it on the side of her neck.
"No!" Gabrielle screamed and everything disappeared from her sight. Her eyes who were once looking at Ravn, were now looking at a familiar white ceiling.
She looked at her surroundings with her ragged breathing and with the fast beating of her heart.
Gabrielle soon realized it was all a dream. She sighed in relief as she sat up, wiping the sweat off her face.
It was just a dream. A very bad dream.
She rubbed her eyes as she got off the bed. Just like her dream, she could also walk stably enough. She went out of her room and walked across her room to open Seraphiel's door but find it locked, so she proceeded to go to Ravn's room.
Gabrielle silently opened the door and peeked at Ravn who's peacefully asleep on his bed. She sighed in relief as she saw him safe and sound on the bed. She proceeded to the rest of the guys' room to check if they're all safe.
She chuckled at how Hwanwoong was sprawled all over his bed when he slept. She walked over to him and fixed his blanket, completely covering him. She went out of his room and proceeded to Xion's room. She silently peeked at the youngest one but was surprised to find no one on his bed. "Xion?"
Gabrielle went inside to see his entire room but as soon as she stepped further inside, she saw San carrying an unconscious Xion on his arms.
How did he find us here?
"N-no," Panic rose within Gabrielle. The memory at Mingi's place came back flashing in her mind. "Hey! Let him go!"
San turned to see Gabrielle approaching them but as she took another step, her legs started to weaken once again, bringing her to the floor.
It's happening again.
"No, no." Gabrielle repeatedly said as she stood up to once again fall back on the floor. "No, not now. Please, not now!"
She let out her wings to fly instead but as soon as she attempted to fly, her wings started to wither. The purely white feathers of her wings were falling down on the floor one by one. "W-What's this? What's going on? Why--"
Gabrielle was now surrounded of her own feathers. Her beautiful wings that were once filled with delicate white feathers are now left with deteriorating bones.
She took the feathers in her hands and looked at it with tears brimming her eyes. "What did you do!? What are you doing to me!?"
San fully faced Gabrielle with Xion still in his arms. "I didn't do anything to you. This is the consequences of your failure."
"This isn't the end! I can still fix this and kill you and your king with my own hands!" Gabrielle helplessly tried to crawl by her arms. She couldn't feel her legs, and now her arms were slowly getting numb too.
"No." San corrected her. "The moment you failed to protect the cursed man of greed was the beginning of the end. Of your end."
"Now, watch me take your friends one by one before I take your head." San lastly said before turning his back towards Gabrielle before leaping out of the window.
Horror filled Gabrielle as she watch San disappear with Xion. She started screaming while trying to crawl to the window.
"Xion!" Gabrielle screamed and instead of seeing the open window, she found herself looking at the white ceiling of her room once again.
While she was breathing heavily, she realized that everything was a dream... Again?
This didn't concern for Gabrielle for now. She bolted out of her room and ran straight to Xion's room with her still weak legs. If this is a dream or not, everything still needs to be okay.
"Xion..." Gabrielle held on to the walls as she ran.
He should be in his room.
As Gabrielle opened Xion's door, she couldn't see him on his bed. The way his blanket was messy right now, was the same as how messy his blanket was previously in her dream.
"No, no, no." Gabrielle repeatedly said while her heart was beating fast. She rushed inside his room and found the window wide open. Its thin curtain was flowing through the cold breeze.
Gabrielle felt her heart drop when she thought about her dream.
"No. T-This can't be happening." She rushed to the window to try and look for any traces of San and Xion. "I can't be late again. I can't lose any of them again."
"Gabrielle?"
Gabrielle turned around as he heard Xion's voice from behind. She felt so confused as she looked at Xion rubbing his eye. "Why are you awake in this hour?" He groggily said. "You should be resting--"
"Where were you?" She interrupted him, her anxiety clearly showing.
"I went to the bathroom to pee. What's wrong?" He asked but instead of receiving an answer, he was pulled into a hug by Gabrielle.
She hugged him tight as she let out the tears of relief. She gripped on his shirt. "T-This is not a dream right?"
Xion looked at her before glancing at his clock. "Nope. The clock is ticking and I can read the title of those books on the shelves."
Gabrielle pulled away as she sighed in relief. "Thank Goodness."
"What's the matter?" Xion tilted his head, looking at Gabrielle with worry and curiosity.
"I was having dreams after dreams. Each time I wake up from a dream, I still find myself inside a dream. They almost felt so real." Gabrielle trailed her hand on her neck, where Ravn choked her.
Xion nodded and walked to his bed. He patted it, telling Gabrielle to sit down. "Mind telling me your dreams? People said if you tell your dreams to someone it won't come true."
Gabrielle sighed as she recalled her dreams. "At first I woke up at dawn because my throat felt dry. So I went to the kitchen to drink some water until Ravn came. He was reprimanding me for going down alone but suddenly he just turned into a whole different person as he wrapped his hand around my neck." Gabrielle touched her neck, she felt like it was real and it was haunting her. "All of you guys were behind him as you tormented me for my failure. You all looked like ghouls. It probably what you would all look like if they had taken over you guys."
"So then, I woke up and thought I was back to reality. I checked you all in your rooms one by one and when I reached yours..." Gabrielle paused. "I saw you in the ghoul's arms. When I tried to save you, my legs started to weaken once again and my wings withered. I couldn't get you. The ghoul successfully captured you and he told me he's taking the rest of the guys one by one."
Xion bit his lip. He was even scared of her dreams. "So that was why you looked so scared and worried a while ago? You thought I was taken away?" Gabrielle nodded so he placed his hands on his hips. He made a confident face as he looked at her. "There's no way I'm letting those disgusting beings take me. Heck, I won't even let them touch me. Even a graze. That won't ever happen, Gabrielle. We'll take back Mingi without the rest of us getting harmed."
"Yeah, it better be." Gabrielle sadly smiled.
"Why don't you sleep here?" Xion suggested. "I mean, I've had nightmares before and the only thing that helped me get over it and to feel secure was my mother sleeping beside me. It really helps a lot if you sleep with someone. You won't feel alone."
Gabrielle contemplated on Xion's suggestion. She doesn't like inconveniencing other people but she feels alone right now, and scared, to add it on the list. She fears for another nightmare that will haunt her of her failure and the thing she's afraid of: having the guys taken.
"I'm too scared to sleep alone tonight but I also don't think I'll be comfortable to be sleeping with someone."
"Why?"
"I'm not sleeping on your bed. It's yours. And probably I'll be taking up a lot of space when I sleep. I don't sleep in a single position, Xion." Gabrielle said as she pointed at the bed.
"I don't mind!" Xion protested. "You can take up a lot of space here. I'll be at the edge of the bed. I always sleep in a single position. I don't move a lot." He lied. Xion knows himself how much he moves when he sleeps that even in the morning he finds his head on the opposite side of the bed already.
Gabrielle raised an eyebrow. "You must think I don't know your sleeping habits too, right?"
Xion pouted, guilty from being caught. "Seriously, Gabrielle. It'll be fine. I won't be able to sleep too knowing how uneasy and scared you feel right now. Just let me give you comfort. Pretty please?"
The puppy eyes that Xion was showing made Gabrielle give up at his adorableness. "Alright, alright. I will. But if I started kicking you or something, wake me up, okay? Or if I'm bothering you with my nightmares, tell me."
"It won't bother me. I promise. Now sleep." Xion reassured her. He stood up and went to the other side of the bed. Completely at the edge of it. Gabrielle gave him a look before laughing. "You're not serious, aren't you?"
"I am." Xion said as he pulled the blanket up to his neck like a small kid.
"The bed is so wide. Why don't you move a little bit. You might fall." Gabrielle settled herself on the bed, also pulling the covers to her neck.
"I'll be fine, Gabrielle. Just go sleep. You need rest. I'll be here to watch over you."
"But--"
"One more protest and I'll bite you." Xion threatened Gabrielle making her zip her mouth.
"Alright. Shutting up." She pouted and laid on her side, facing Xion. He laid on his side too to face her.
"Thank you, Xion. I promise I'll protect you all whatever the cost may be."
This made Xion smile. He slightly moved closer to her--but still having some distance between them--and placed his hand on her hair to pat it. "Thank you too, Gabrielle. For coming into our lives. I promise--we promise, to protect you just like how you protect us."
Xion just kept on caressing Gabrielle's hair until she fell asleep. He watched her sleep peacefully, sometimes stirring because of another nightmare. Her hands would move around to find something to hold on until she found Xion's warmth. Xion held her hand, caressing it this time and calming her until he finally fell asleep as well.